Jessica Chastain

With her piercing gaze and a commanding presence, it came as no surprise that Jessica Chastain went from being a relative newcomer to acting in high-profile roles opposite seasoned actors like Brad Pi...
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The Zero Dark Thirty star tried to be as distant as possible when she started work on the film - but youngsters Megan Charpentier and Victoria Isabelle Nelisse just wanted to play with her.
She explains, "My character is definitely the reluctant mother and wants nothing to do with children... and in the beginning she's a bit of a b**ch, unlikable and selfish who grows a heart of gold by the end.
"I'd rather just hang out with kids than adults any day, but I tried to be a little removed from them in the beginning; I didn't want to scoop them up and love them because that's not quite the character and I wanted them to be a little unsure of me. But it didn't last long.
"We had little dance parties to the song Dynamite. Little Isabelle only spoke French and learned English throughout the shoot and became obsessed with that song, so we played it every day. She learned all the lyrics and we did dance parties in the trailer.
"The girls would make drawings for me and I posted them in my dressing room... I mean, how can you not love these girls?"

Old school; satin-covered; glamorous; predictable — these are all words that typically define the annual Vanity Fair Hollywood issue. When the cover is unveiled, we all clamor to marvel at the pretty starlets assembled on a dreamlike set, floating like angels of haute-couture, and giving us exactly what we've come to expect. Every. Single. Year. But not in 2013. This year, it’s going to be different, the magazine promises. Unfortunately, it’s not — but that’s not the magazine’s fault.
Gone is the old Hollywood glamor, here to stay is a bit of a visual circus, full of ring leaders, four-legged friends, and even furries. “It’s one for this history books,” proclaims the magazine’s press release. The issue includes more than 75 different Hollywood stars, and some of them aren’t even humans! (See: the elephant on the fourth panel of the mag’s new cover.) How are your mind grapes doing after that? What do you mean they’re totally fine because this supposedly mind-blowing twist on a classic is about as shocking as a lens flare shot in a J.J. Abrams movie? Are you not amused? The cover, which was shot by Bruce Weber as a tribute to the “real” Hollywood, dares to be different, and while the visual lacks the usual proliferation of satin opera gloves, when it comes down to it, it’s the same old story again.
We’re still facing a Hollywood A-list (and A-list of the future) that lacks diversity. While the 75-plus person list includes folks like Quevenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Kerry Washington (Django Unchained), Halle Berry, and Selena Gomez, the focal point of the annual issue is, once again, a group of white actors.
As Jezebel pointed out, while the cover itself features Wallis and Washington, each actress’s image appears behind the fold alongside Olivia Wilde, Les Mis's Eddie Redmayne, and a fanciful elephant, while only Ben Affleck, Emma Stone, and Bradley Cooper grace the newsstand-facing portion of the cover. That was the problem with the 2012 cover, which had its only actresses of color, Adepero Oyude and Paula Patton, were behind the fold while Rooney Mara, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, and Mia Wasikowska graced the first panel. And in 2011, while Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, Anne Hathaway, and James Franco sat front and center, Anthony Mackie and Rashida Jones were pushed back to subsequent panels. It’s a pattern that’s rather hard to ignore, but does it really mean that Vanity Fair is the one with a diversity issue?
Sure, we can roll our eyes in a self-satisfied, finger-wagging moment right about now. Vanity Fair is stretching itself to deliver something visually different in its Hollywood issue with the addition of Weber’s aesthetic, which eschews old school glamor for free-wheeling friendship among the stars — but it’s doing so without fixing the recurring problem with its cover. The problem, however, isn’t Vanity Fair’s to fix. The problem belongs to Hollywood.
The world is changing, and with that comes the promise of diversity, but just because we’re seeing big results, like the election and re-election of President Obama, doesn’t mean that diversity has spread like a magical blanket to every corner of our world. There are still great gaps in our growth, and one gap happens to exist in a realm that we put on display all year every year: Hollywood. Vanity Fair captures the glitz and the glamour of the stars we already love and those we should turn our attention to next, and naturally, those we’re already obsessed with tend to make the first panel of the yearly multi-panel cover. Vanity Fair has to sell magazines; is it any wonder the biggest stars in the cover set make it to the first panel? The magazine has responsibility as something of a tastemaker in the industry, but they can’t sell us what we aren’t already willing to buy. Perhaps the cover isn’t an expression of the consumers’ issues or the magazine’s issues, but our collective issues as a culture.
A quick survey of this years’ award nominees shows that the lack of diversity isn’t just something that happens on a magazine cover once a year. Of the Oscar-nominated actors and actresses in 2013, two are not white (Denzel Washington for Flight and Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild). The Best Director category includes only one non-white director (Ang Lee for Life of Pi) and absolutely no women, despite the wide critical acclaim for Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow. While Hollywood is practically a poster-town for socially liberal causes, including diversity in all its forms, when it comes to crowning the cream of its crop, we’re constantly looking at a set of folks that resembles its past incarnations.
Vanity Fair may be guilty of buying into the predictability of Hollywood’s yearly popularity contest, but the magazine isn’t creating the problem. It’s a bigger problem, Vanity Fair’s Affleck-Stone-and-Cooper-play-with-the-furry-fetish cover is just a symptom.
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[Photo Credit: Bruce Weber exclusively for Vanity Fair (2)]
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The clouds have parted and a glorious light, in the form of one Jennifer Lawrence, has descended from above to unite Hollywood (and all the world) in one perfect, steadfast belief. Finally, everyone — Republicans and Democrats, cat people and dog people, glamorous movie stars and the rat-faced people of television — can agree on something: Jennifer Lawrence is amazing.
Nary a magazine interview, a late show appearance, an awards show acceptance speech goes by without lauding her myriad talents: her wit, her humility, her photogenicness (photogenecy?), or her acting ability. Lawrence is the total package, and we can't get enough.
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In the past 10 days alone, Lawrence has hosted SNL, survived pneumonia, and thanked MTV's My Super Sweet Sixteen for inducting her into the Screen Actor's Guild. In the past month, she's told tales of staving off home intruders with her Hunger Games archery skills, and proudly proclaimed "I beat Meryl!" (Okay, so that one was more allusion than declaration.) And in the past year, she has defended her appearance and her weight countless times. Have we ever had a Hollywood starlet more real? More down-to-earth? More genuinely charming? Probably. But in 2013, we love us some Jennifer Lawrence.
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And the industry, it's clear, is loving Jennifer, too. For her performance in Silver Linings Playbook, Lawrence has already picked up the Golden Globe, the Critics Choice Award, and the SAG Award (to name a few). Only the Big Kahuna, the Oscar, looms on her horizon. Lawrence was nominated for an Oscar once before, in 2011 for Winter's Bone.
Sadly, she was bested by Natalie Portman. But that was 2011, when Lawrence was still a year away from becoming America's Sweetheart. The Hunger Games, X-Men: First Class, and a Vanity Fair cover all laid before her. In 2011, Lawrence was just a girl in a smokin' red Calvin Klein dress. Natalie Portman, however, was having a baby.
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In the race for Best Actress in a Leading Role, the Academy loves to honor women who are having "a year." Women who are garnering praise for their personal lives as well as their performances.
Women who may have once been prime for high school crushes and rom-com leads, but were finally given some Oscar-worthy material. Think: Sandra Bullock, Kate Winslet, Reese Witherspoon, Hilary Swank, Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow. Sure, all of the above are immensely talented women, but did Bullock really give a better performance than Helen Mirren in The Last Station or Gabourey Sidibe in Precious? Was Natalie Portman in Black Swan really better than Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine or Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right?
While these questions will surely be debated at dinner parties for years to come, it's clear these ladies made more headlines and talk show appearances in their respective winning years than their competition did.
And now, we have Lawrence. In this year's Oscar battle she is faced with worthy foes in Jessica Chastain, Emmanuelle Riva, Quvenzhané Wallis, and Naomi Watts. Of these four, the only one to rival Lawrence in media frenzy is Chastain. But, let's be honest, Chastain's "year" — the year in which she appeared in every other film and grabbed hold of America's heartstrings — was really last year.
So, if the media (and let's be honest, the Internet) has anything to say about it, the Academy Award should be Lawrence's for the taking. Lawrence's talent is laid bare in each of her performances (award-nominated as well as not), but if you need further convincing of her charm, take a gander at her first professional acting job below. The girl is clearly exceptional.
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[Photo Credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for BFCA]
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If all of the acceptance speeches as the various awards shows leading up to the Oscars are just practice for The Big Speech at The Big Dance, then Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lawrence are more than prepared for February 24. Both the Silver Linings Playbook star (who did not have a wardrobe malfunction, thank you very much, that's just the way the dress was designed) and the Argo leading man/director, who are now bona fide Oscar frontrunners, gave two of the best speeches during Sunday night'sScreen Actors Guild Awards.
Lawrence, who won in the Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Leading Role category, not only got a boost in the Best Actress race by getting the award over Zero Dark Thirty's Jessica Chastain, but by giving yet another charming speech. The 22-year-old revealed that she earned her SAG card by appearing in a promo for MTV's horror show My Super Sweet 16. While most actresses would do everything in their power to hide that fact, Lawrence proudly talked about the small thing that opened a big door for her. But it wasn't Lawrence's nod to the MTV reality show that made hers the best speech of the night, but her thanking director David O. Russell and how he made Silver Linings Playbook for his bipolar son, but in the process he helped "so many sons and daughters, husbands, wives" in feeling less alone. Watch her super sweet speech below:
Affleck has been no slouch in the speech department, either. While he won't get to make one for Best Director at the Oscars, his film Argo could very well win Best Picture at this point and the humble, good-natured Affleck may get to take the stage for that. He may have just helped the film's chances even more after he gave a rousing, pro-Hollywood (sort of like his film) acceptance speech at the SAG awards when he and his cast mates won Outstanding Ensemble. Adding to the "aww" factor, he thanked his wife Jennifer Garner and their kids, whom he said he loves even more than Argo's studio Warner Bros. Watch:
Don't go Liz Lemon! Tina Fey's gracious, hilarious speech when she won Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Comedy Series at this year's SAG awards only made 30 Rock's impending exit from television this week that much more bittersweet. From her shout-out to her dear friend (and perennial snub) Amy Poehler to her plea to TV viewers to watch the 30 Rock series finale live on Thursday and DVR The Big Bang Theory, Fey reminded us why she's one of the most beloved women in the history of television. Enjoy:
Sorry Don Draper and Nicholas Brody, you just can't mess with Heisenberg. Bryan Cranston proved once again that while he plays one of the most terrifying people on television, he's anything but in real life. The Breaking Bad star (who also won with the Argo ensemble), who won for Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor In A Drama Series and like Fey, is getting to enjoy the perks of a final season, gave a funny ("Tonight, at least, I am well-endowed" he joked, looking at the nude trophy) and sincere speech. Check it out:
Dick Van Dyke was not only adorable and gracious, but he even gave a shout-out to his infamously terrible cockney accent from Mary Poppins. Three cheers, old chum! You are more than deserving of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Watch it here:
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The film, a modernised version of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, knocked Jessica Chastain's horror Mama into second place with $12.8 million (£8 million), while Silver Linings Playbook received a big boost ahead of next month's (Feb13) Academy Awards as cinema-goers flocked to see the Oscar favourite, sending it back up the box office chart to take third place with a $10 million (£6.25 million) gross in its 11th week of release.
In contrast, Jennifer Lopez and Jason Statham's crime thriller Parker opened with a disappointing $7 million (£4.38 million), behind Zero Dark Thirty at four with $9.8 million (£6.13 million).
Another flop was Peter Farrelly's outrageous ensemble comedy Movie 43, which scraped into seventh place with a poor $5 million (£3.13 million).

As expected Paramount's Hansel &amp; Gretel: Witch Hunters, the ultra-violent update of the classic fairy tale, topped the box office for the weekend of Jan. 25. But unlike a certain evil witch's house, it wasn't exactly made of candy. It opened in 3,372 theaters, including in 3-D and IMAX, but wound up grossing $19 million. It had been expected to earn somewhere in the low to mid-$20 millions. For a movie that had been heavily publicized and stars the bankable Jeremy Renner (The Avengers) and Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace), that's gotta be seen as somewhat disappointing, but a 38% uptick on Saturday showed that among moviegoers word-of-mouth was solid. Blame the frosty weather blanketing much of the eastern United States for moviegoers staying home, and, in the case of Hansel &amp; Gretel, the even frostier reviews it received from critics. It only earned a score of "22" out of 100 on the review aggregation site Metacritic.com.
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Actually, "underperformance" was the keyword to understand all of the box office numbers this weekend. The other big new debuts, the Jason Statham/Jennifer Lopez actioner Parker and the bizarre collection of raunchy short films called Movie 43 that seemed to rope in most of Hollywood's A-List, opened very soft. FilmDistrict's Parker premiered in 2,224 theaters but only made $7 million to land at No.5, while Movie 43, which couldn't even get a Metacritic score half as large as 43, posted a sluggish $5 million to enter at No. 7.
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Neither of them could overtake Jessica Chastain's surprise horror-hit Mama, which banked another $12.9 million to place No. 2 behind Hansel &amp; Gretel. Chastain failed to replicate the one-two box office dominance of Mama and Zero Dark Thirty that she managed the weekend of Jan. 18, but the latter film continued to perform strong with $9.8 million being added to its $69.9 million haul. Speaking of Oscar hopefuls, Silver Linings Playbook held on to the No. 3 spot, with another $10 million proving that Harvey Weinstein's gradual-release strategy really does pay off.
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Here are the weekend's Top 5
1. Hansel &amp; Gretel: Witch Hunters: $19 million
2. Mama: $12.68 million; Cume: $48.65 million
3. Silver Linings Playbook: $10 million; Cume: $69.46 million
4. Zero Dark Thirty: $9.8 million; $69.9 million
5. Parker: $7 million
[Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures]
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The Help star, who rarely talks openly about her love life, has been busy juggling her role in The Heiress on Broadway with promotional duties for her Oscar-nominated movie Zero Dark Thirty, although she recently hinted she has been dating someone in the fashion industry.
She told Britain's InStyle magazine, "If you fished around enough, you could find some information. To be honest, I never talk about it. Some people in the fashion world know, though."
However, the actress insists she is alone again because she is currently too busy to sustain a relationship, telling Britain's Daily Mail newspaper, "There's no one. Where do people think I find the time?"

The three women all pose with bare faces for photographer Juergen Teller in his shoot for W magazine.
Twilight star Stewart is seen sporting heavy bags under her eyes and seemingly unwashed hair in her picture, while Cotillard, who is wearing just a towel, looks fresh-faced having just stepped out of the shower.
Kidman and her longtime friend Naomi Watts also posed without make-up for the shoot, and in the accompanying interview, the King Kong star insists she is rarely recognised in public when she sports a casual look.
She says, "I never get recognised on the street. I'm lucky that way. People see me as the dolled-up movie-star type on the red carpet, but in real life, I don't look anything like that. I blend easily into a crowd. My husband (sic), Liev Schreiber, is really distinct, and quite often people push me aside to get to him... They will then ask, 'Can you take a photo of us?' They have no idea who I am."
Male stars who went without air-brushing for the spread include Matthew McConaughey, who showed off a skeletal frame after slimming down to play an AIDS victim in new movie Dallas Buyers Club.
Daniel Day-Lewis posed in a casual outfit of a knitted sweater and jeans, Jarvier Bardem wore just a blanket and Philip Seymour Hoffman was seen wearing a beanie hat, dirty trousers and a weather-proof jacket.
Other stars featured in the shoot include Jack Black, Jessica Chastain and Keira Knightley.

The Oscar-nominated star has been struggling to juggle her theatre stint in The Heiress with promotional commitments for her critically-acclaimed new movie Zero Dark Thirty during the Hollywood awards season.
She has pulled out of several performances so she could support the movie at various prizegivings, including the recent Golden Globe Awards where she landed a best actress trophy, and now she has confirmed her play will close early so she can fly to London to attend the BAFTA awards.
The Heiress, which also stars former Downton Abbey actor Dan Stevens, was due to close on 10 February (13), the day of the U.K. movie event, but will now shut down a day early, according to Britain's Daily Mail newspaper.
Chastain tells the publication, "They've made special arrangements for people with tickets (to the cancelled show)."
The Help star is nominated for another best actress prize at the BAFTAs, which will take place at London's Royal Opera House on 10 February (13).

Title

Played recurring role of an assistant DA named Sigrun Borg on NBC’s "Law & Order: Trial by Jury"

Cast as Brad Pitt’s wife in Terence Malick’s "The Tree of Life"

Co-starred with Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy in Prohibition-era Western "Lawless"

Appeared on the shows "ER" (NBC) and "Veronica Mars" (UPN)

Made Broadway debut in "The Heiress," based on Henry James novel Washington Square

Landed featured role in the drama "The Help," based on Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 novel

Played opposite Al Pacino in Oscar Wilde's controversial play "Salome" at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles, CA

Reprised title character in "Wilde Salome," based on Oscar Wilde’s 1891 tragic play, directed by and co-starring Al Pacino

During senior year at Juilliard, signed a contract with television producer John Wells to appear on some of his shows

Starred as a CIA analyst in Kathryn Bigelow directed "Zero Dark Thirty," based on the hunt for Osama bin Laden

Played a young version of Helen Mirren's character, a Mossad agent who hunted down a former Nazi doctor in 1960s East Germany, in "The Debt"

Cast as Anya in the Williamstown Theatre Festival production of "The Cherry Orchard"

Cast as Virgilia in the feature adaptation of Shakespeare's "Coriolanus," directed by Ralph Fiennes

Co-starred with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in horror feature "Mama"

Made film debut as the title role in "Jolene"

Co-starred with Michael Shannon in "Take Shelter"

Voiced character of Gia in "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted"

Summary

With her piercing gaze and a commanding presence, it came as no surprise that Jessica Chastain went from being a relative newcomer to acting in high-profile roles opposite seasoned actors like Brad Pitt and Helen Mirren seemingly overnight. The classically trained actress jumpstarted her career with appearances on hit television dramas, before landing the lead role in "Jolene" (2008), which centered on a brave woman's 10-year journey across America. Chastain then made a huge leap onto the big screen with a memorable performance as a morally conflicted Nazi hunter in 1960s Berlin in the thriller, "The Debt" (2010). The following year, Chastain became a near constant presence on the festival circuit and a critical darling with lauded performances in Terrence Malick's meditation on the meaning of existence "The Tree of Life" (2011), the hugely successful adaptation of the novel "The Help" (2011), the disturbing psychodrama "Take Shelter" (2011) and the critically hailed action thriller "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012). These prestigious efforts, made by some of cinema's most acclaimed filmmakers and alongside some of the brightest stars, marked only the beginning for the exceptionally talented Chastain.

Name

Role

Comments

Marilyn

Grandmother

Accompanied her to 2012 Academy Awards

Juliet

Sister

Died at age 24

Jerri Chastain

Mother

Michael Hastey

Father

Gian Passi de Preposulo

Companion

Chastain confirmed relationship Feb. 12, 2013 on "Katie"

Education

Name

The Juilliard School

El Camino Fundamental High School

Notes

"I'm a very superstitious person. I'm walking onto the plane and my feet are on the lip of the plane. I have to do it every time before I fly...It started out because I was in New York on September 11. I freaked out and was terrified to fly. I used to do a little prayer outside the plane, and now I put my hands and my feet on the plane, and I think it'll be okay." – Chastain to Michael Shannon, Interview magazine, December 2011/January 2012